Plans
by Stormfire76
Summary: With the Giant War over, Frank can finally take Hazel out on an official date (without being eaten by monsters). The only problem is, he has no idea how to plan a real date. And Percy, Jason, Leo and Nico all seem to have vastly different advice.


***coughs* I know I should be writing TSOF or WaM right now, especially considering that BoO's release is just around the corner(!)... but I have no regrets. Oneshots are sort of all I'm capable of right now because, among other reasons, school=no free time. :P Besides, I've been wanting to write a Frazel story since SoN but have had exactly zero ideas. So when the fabulous fabulouslaughter asked/coerced/forced me into doing a sort of story trade with her, and then gave me an awesome Frazel prompt, I couldn't resist. ;) Basically, she wrote this story summary for me, and I wrote a story summary for her, and we each wrote a oneshot that fit the summary. This was written pretty quickly, but ****I hope you all enjoy the result anyway!**

**(Just pretend that everyone survived the end of BoO, okay? Okay. ^-^)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes of Olympus.**

* * *

><p><strong>Plans<strong>

* * *

><p>"This is . . ."<p>

"Nice?"

Frank grinned. "I was going to say 'weird', but nice works too."

Hazel laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder as they looked down Half-Blood Hill at the Greek camp spread below them. "I know what you mean," she admitted. "It's almost the same . . . but at the same time, it's _totally_ different."

Frank didn't have to ask to know she was talking about the layout of Camp Half-Blood compared to Camp Jupiter's. "I know what you mean," he began, "but it's not just that. _Everything_ is weird. The two camps are allies now. Friends, even. And we didn't even know this place _existed_ three months ago. We fought an entire war, and we made amazing friends, and we almost died a thousand times, and now . . . it's so _quiet_. We don't have to worry about fighting for our lives at any minute. I don't even have that many duties as praetor, since we're staying here and enjoying an extended vacation. It's just . . . it's weird." He made a face. "I don't know how else to describe it."

"No, I know _exactly_ what you mean," Hazel promised. "I've been feeling that way too, actually. So then I started thinking . . ." She paused, sneaking her hand across to his. His fingers curled around hers readily. Sometimes, between the craziness of the war and the close friendship they'd had before, well, they became more than friends, Frank almost forgot that they were dating. He slipped into getting nervous whenever Hazel was around, worried that he'd say something that gave away how much he liked her . . . and then she'd do something like this—hug him for no reason, reach for his hand, kiss his cheek—and he remembered in a flash that she already _knew_ how much he liked her. And by some miracle, she liked him back just as much.

Slowly, Frank realized that Hazel had trailed off. "So?" he prompted, shattering the comfortable silence. "You were thinking?"

She jumped. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking . . . you know, with everything going on . . . well, we never really, um, made this very official?"

Frank tensed. "This isn't official?" he asked, getting nervous all over again. "This isn't couple-y enough? What did I do wrong?"

Instantly, Hazel shifted and kissed his cheek. "Gods, nothing's wrong," she assured him. "That's not what I meant. We're definitely _together_ and everything. It's just . . . well, we've never actually been on a date?"

At that, Frank's mouth dropped open. "Oh my _gods_," he said, "you're right!" He flushed. "I never even thought about that. That's probably pretty weird too, huh? As far as normal relationships go?"

Hazel laughed. "Who knows? It's not like a normal relationship was ever in the Fates' plans for us anyway. I can summon jewels and control the Mist. You can change shape. I _died_ seventy years ago. I'm okay with not being normal, Frank."

He straightened up, and Hazel followed his lead. "Still," he said indignantly. "I can't believe we've never gone on a date, Hazel."

"We _did_ spend most of our time on a boat—"_  
><em>

"No excuses! I have to fix this immediately!" He grabbed her other hand and turned to face her. "Today's . . . what, Thursday, right?" She nodded. "Then, Hazel Levesque, would you like to go on a date with me this Saturday?"

"Did you really have to ask?" Hazel answered with a smile on her lips and a spark in her eyes. "But the weekend starts tomorrow, doesn't it? Why wait 'til Saturday?"

There was a beat of silence. Then, "Capture the Flag is on Friday," Frank reminded her, "and I promised Percy we'd help cream Annabeth's team."

Hazel smirked. "You're right. I'd almost forgotten we already had plans for Friday night."

"More than plans," he grinned. "_Obligations_."

Frank continued to smile as they talked strategy for their imminent victory, but secretly, he was thanking Percy for giving him a good excuse. In all honesty, he was just stalling.

After all, they'd spent the last three months fighting Gaea. And no matter how much Aphrodite/Venus and Ares/Mars kidded themselves, love and war did _not _mix well. He hadn't exactly had time to become an expert in romance.

How the heck was Frank supposed to plan their first _date_?

* * *

><p>After a quick prayerful sacrifice of the best bacon strips on his plate, Frank slid into place next to Percy at Cabin Three's dining table. (Now that camp was filled to maximum capacity with Romans, Chiron had pretty much given up at the "separate by godly parent" rule at mealtimes.) "Frank!" Percy grinned cheerfully, already digging into blue waffles. "Just the guy I wanted to see! I heard that you and Hazel have already thought of some great ideas to help us steal the flag tonigh—"<p>

"I need your help," Frank cut in, shoveling a bite of scrambled eggs into his mouth as he spoke.

Percy's smile dimmed slightly. "With what? Need to work through a hole in one of your plans—"

"Not everything is about Capture the Flag, Percy," Frank muttered around his eggs. "This is _serious._"_  
><em>

"Capture the Flag is serious too," Percy said automatically, but when he stopped eating to swig some milk and take a look at Frank's face, he stopped joking. "Wow, that bad, huh?" Frank guessed his panic was smeared all over his face. "What's wrong, man?"

Frank gulped down his food and sighed. "It's Hazel."

"What? _You _guys are fighting? But I had you two pegged as—"_  
><em>

"We're not fighting, Percy," Frank interrupted. "Hazel's as perfect as ever."

"Oh." Percy frowned. "What's your problem, then?"

"The _problem _is that _I _can't be as perfect as she deserves," Frank complained. "Percy, we're supposed to go on a _date_ Saturday night!"

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Okay. First of all, I am the _last_ person you should be asking for dating advice. I honestly can't believe Annabeth's stuck with me this long. Secondly, I don't know why you're freaking out. It's _awesome_ that you guys are going to get a chance to spend time togeth—"

"It's a _date,_ Percy!" Frank continued, talking over the son of Poseidon. "Capture the Flag strategies I can make, but how the heck am I supposed to plan a good _first date_? Especially after we've been through so much together! She's got to be expecting something thoughtful and impressive. Something original. Something fun. Something _amazing_—"

"Morning, Frank!" Hazel stopped by their table to peck him on the cheek. "How are you doing?"

"Erm . . ." Frank glared at Percy, who was leaning over his blue waffles and snickering. "Fine, I guess?"

"Oh, good. Because I was thinking about, you know, what we discussed yesterday, and I just wanted to make sure you knew . . . I don't want you to go to any trouble planning that thing for Saturday, all right? It's not supposed to be a big deal. We can just stay at camp and walk on the beach if you want." She smiled. "Spending time with you will be great, no matter what we do." Then she headed off to a brazier to sacrifice some of her breakfast.

As soon as she was gone, Percy burst out laughing. "It sounds like you have nothing to worry about, Frank," he said between gasps of air. "And really, are you that surprised? You know Hazel's cool, and she knows you're both new to all of this. She's not going to expect some crazy grand romantic gesture from you."

Frank snorted. "First of all, _never_ say 'grand romantic gesture' again. Secondly . . . thanks. Actually, that was vaguely helpful. I'll just stick to something simple."

* * *

><p>"Hey, what brings you here, Frank?" Jason asked. "Surrendering already?"<p>

"Hardly," Frank snorted. "Our team is going to _destroy _yours tonight."

"You forget, Praetor Zhang," Jason grinned. "We have a strategic genius on our side."

"And what does that make me?" Frank shot back. "_My_ plan is what saved your butt during that last battle in Athens, remember?"

"Whatever," Jason shrugged, and Frank knew he'd run out of arguments. "But if that's not the reason, then why are you here?"

"Oh, just getting a second opinion. Hazel and I are going on a date on Saturday, and—"

Jason's mouth dropped open. "Isn't that your _first_ date?"

"Yeah," Frank said, somewhat apprehensively. "But Hazel told me not to worry about being creative, and Percy agreed with her, so—"

"Frank, you _cannot_ listen to advice from Percy."

"He's been dating Annabeth for over a year—"

"And he's lucky that Annabeth's kept him around this long," Jason finished, lifting an eyebrow.

"Actually, that was exactly what he said too," Frank admitted. "Right after he told me that he was the last person I should come to for dating advice."

"And you're still listening to him?" Jason said, aghast. "Look, man, I'm not exactly an expert on girls either, but I'm nowhere _near_ as clueless as Percy. Let me prove it to you. What advice did he give you?"

"Well, he told me to listen to what Hazel told me and keep it simple—"

"See? That's ridiculous! You can't settle for something simple!"

Frank frowned, wishing that Jason would let him complete a sentence. "But she said—"

"Yeah, girls all _say_ they're fine with something simple," Jason sighed, "but that's just so they don't seem needy. All girls secretly want you to come up with a grand romantic gesture, Frank."

"Oh, gods, don't you go saying 'grand romantic gesture' too," Frank groaned. "And you can't honestly expect me to believe that Piper cares about that sort of thing. I'm pretty sure Leo told me you tried to get her roses for Valentine's Day, and Piper laughed and said they were sweet, but Valentine's Day was a pretty outdated holiday and she hadn't been planning on doing anything special for it."

"Okay, maybe," Jason admitted. "But think about it. For the first time, you guys can relax and date without worrying that you could easily end up in the Underworld tomorrow. Don't you think you should celebrate that somehow? Do something fun and exciting to appreciate the fact that you're relatively safe?"

Frank slumped. "Yeah, you're right," he grumbled. "Thanks for sticking me right back at square one. Do you at least have any ideas for things I could do?"

"Hey, don't look at me, dude," Jason said, raising his hands. "You're the one planning this thing. You're the one who has to come up with an original way to make Hazel feel special. It won't mean anything if I give you the idea." He shrugged. "Besides, I have no clue what you should do. Just don't be cliché."

Frank threw his hands in the air. "Well, thanks for _nothing_. I look forward to beating you at Capture the Flag tonight."

* * *

><p>Now that Percy and Jason had been proven useless, Frank decided to ask for help from someone that he knew was at least creative.<p>

He started the conversation off casually. "So, are you going to join me and Hazel for Capture the Flag?"

"Nah, you know I don't have time for that."

Frank leaned over Leo's shoulder. "What are you doing in here all the time, anyway? It's not like you're in a rush to build a giant Greek trireme in time to fulfill a massive prophecy or anything."

Leo scooted his papers out of Frank's view. "It's none of your business," he said, glaring at Frank before leaning over and scribbling things down again. "Don't you have some camp activity thing to get to?"

"Don't _you_?"

"Arts and Crafts," Leo said, sparing a moment to flash Frank a grin. "And I'm arts-ing and crafting right now, so I'm not actually skipping anything."

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be with the rest of your cabin when doing cabin activities." Frank raised his eyebrows. "This is Bunker Nine."

"Dude, stop bugging me," Leo complained. "I _know_ you knew trying to drag me out of here to do physical activity was futile, so what are you really doing here?"

Frank sighed. "Hazel and I are going on a date tomorrow."

"Oh. Do you want a chaperone or something? Because my schedule's pretty packed—"

"_Gods,_ no," Frank shuddered. "Where did you even get that idea—? Never mind. I don't want to know. What I _do_ want to know is _what the heck should I do_?"

"Well, generally the guy meets the girl at a designated location, and then they skip off into the sunset to do some designated activity, and there's often PDA involved, and then—"

"Ugh, _stop_," Frank shivered again. "Just . . . just stop."

"Okay, then what do you want me to say?" Leo asked. "It's not like . . . like I've ever had a girlfriend or anything." It was hard to tell with Leo's face turned pointedly downwards, but Frank was pretty sure he saw the son of Hephaestus turn red. "I'm the last person you should be asking for advice on girls. Go bother Jason or Percy or something."

"I already _did_," Frank explained, "and they didn't help at all! Come on, Leo. You can't tell me you can't give me _any_ advice. Jason told me I need to come up with something creative, fun, and original. What should I do? Where should we go? How should I act?"

Leo sighed and dropped his face onto his desk. "You're not going to leave until I try, are you?" he mumbled.

"No. Leo, I kind of really need you help—"

"_FINE._" Before Frank could react, even to thank him, Leo grabbed Frank's arm and scrawled something onto it with his Sharpie. Then he reached across the table, grabbed the safety glasses that were dangling off his desk lamp, and slammed them down in front of Frank.

Frank lifted his arm to his eyes and stared at what Leo had drawn. "Hot . . . stuff?"

Leo nodded without looking up from his designs. "Yeah. The safety glasses are for extra effect."

Frank furrowed his eyebrows. "What effect?"

"You should probably buy a leather jacket too," Leo added, as if he hadn't heard Frank's question. "Then you should be just fine. The ladies love a bad boy."

"_LEO!_"

"Hey, man, you wanted my advice!" Leo tried to keep a straight face, but Frank could see his lips twitching.

"I'm not buying a leather jacket!" Frank proclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Besides, you know Hazel. She's not into that kind of thing."

"Really? Because when we went to that lime beach in Utah, she seemed to feel differently."

Frank's mouth dropped open. "_ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT—_"

"I was kidding!" Leo promised, backtracking hastily. "Just trying to get you to leave, that's all."

"Consider your mission accomplished," Frank grumbled. "And thanks for drawing this with Sharpie. It's never going to come off now."

Leo snickered. "There's an easy solution to _that_ problem, dude. Just turn into a dog before you go on your date. I'm sure Hazel will dig that."

Frank didn't even dignify that with a response. He just turned and walked away.

"Hey, don't be like that!" Leo called after him with a laugh. "You said you wanted to be original!"

Frank whirled around with a retort on his lips . . . but Leo was already hunched over whatever blueprints he was working on, muttering calculations to himself again. Even while his mind whirled as he worried about the next day, part of Frank was selfless enough to hope Leo finished his mysterious project soon. It wasn't healthy for him to be spending so much time in the bunker by himself. Honestly, Frank thought he might have been the first human interaction Leo had had all day.

He hesitated before leaving. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to come play Capture the Flag tonight?" he asked. "There's a spot for you in our attack strategy."

"We'll see," Leo said.

But as Frank turned and left, he mentally adjusted their plans to leave Leo's role out of it.

* * *

><p>There were only two hours left before Capture the Flag started, and Frank was panicking. He <em>still<em> didn't know what he was supposed to do, and once dinner began in half an hour, Frank knew he wouldn't have any more time to brainstorm. So when he saw a guy in all black slouching moodily across the central green, he decided to take drastic measures and slid into place next to Nico di Angelo.

"Hello, Nico," he said pleasantly. "How's it going?"

Nico tensed and turned to look at him. "Cut the small talk, Zhang," he said. "Why are you here?"

"Well," Frank said slowly, "I know you and Hazel are really close, so I just thought you might have an idea of what she'd like me to do for our first date tomorrow? And if she hasn't told you, maybe you could ask?"

There was a beat of silence, and then Nico laughed dryly. "Man, you must be _really_ desperate to come to _me_ for help."

"Um . . ." Frank rubbed self-consciously at the "Hot Stuff" scribble he'd hidden under a sweatshirt. "Well, I just thought—"

"_No, _Frank. I'm not helping you plan a date with _my little sister_."

"But—"

"No."

"But—"

"_No._"

"But—"

"Dude, I am the _last_ person you should be asking for advice on girls."

"Funny, that's exactly what Percy, Jason, and Leo said—"

"Well, they aren't. _I_ am. I'm serious. No. Asking. For. Advice. Concerning. Dating. My. Sister." Nico fixed him with one of his most annoyed death glares. "_Ever._"

And before Frank could protest, Nico shadow traveled away.

Frank slumped over, looking around the central green sadly. He was basically screwed. None of his friends had told him anything even _remotely_ helpful, and no _way_ was he going to Piper or Annabeth for help. He'd never live it down. But how was he supposed to come up with something original on his own? The few things he knew about dating from his friends' experiences involved reforming a relationship after it turned out to be comprised entirly of Mist memories and spending a few horrifying weeks together in the depths of Tartarus, and Frank wasn't particularly interested in trying either of those scenarios with Hazel. And all he knew about mortal dating was that they usually went on dinner-and-a-movie dates, and Jason had specifically told him not to be cliché. . . .

Just then, Frank noticed a few girls gossiping together in front of Cabin Ten, giggling over a stack of magazines with glossy celebrity photos on the covers and fulfilling a cliché of their own, and _finally_, an idea started to form in his mind. Sure, dinner-and-a-movie dates were cliché _now_ . . . but Hazel had grown up in the forties.

* * *

><p>Frank couldn't help but grin like an idiot when Hazel skipped up to meet him at the base of Half-Blood Hill at about four o'clock on Saturday afternoon, wearing a modest blouse and skirt with simple black flats. She greeted him with a smile of her own and then said uncertainly, "I hope what I'm wearing is all right. Somehow, Piper and the other Aphrodite girls found out that we're going on a date tonight, and Lacy <em>insisted<em> on choosing an outfit for me."

"You look gorgeous," Frank promised her, leaning in for a hug. "But I have to admit that I know how they found out about tonight."

"What? How?"

He grinned again. "Let's just say that you aren't the only one who borrowed something from the Aphrodite cabin."

Hazel frowned slightly. "Frank, what are you talking about?"

He reached behind him and brought out a picnic basket with a blanket folded on top. "Let's sit down, okay?" he said with another stupid smile. "Then I'll explain."

Hazel smiled right back. "A picnic? Frank, that's sweet of you—"

"It's not really a picnic," Frank admitted. At that, Hazel looked at him curiously and sat down. He followed suit. "You see, I've been thinking about tonight a lot over the last few days, and no matter how many options I considered, I still didn't know exactly what to do."

"Frank, you didn't have to do _anything_!" Hazel protested. Her curls blew into her face with the wind, and she pushed them away as she spoke. "I _told_ you I'd be happy no matter what we did! You weren't supposed to be going to any trouble to plan something else! We had enough to do while getting ready for that Capture the Flag game!" At that, she couldn't help but smirk. "Which I'm still excited that we won, by the way."

"_Beyond_ excited," Frank agreed. "And I think Annabeth's still locked away in Cabin Six, furiously looking through her plans and trying to figure out the hole in her brilliant strategy. The competition kind of backfired on Percy—because now she won't let him spend any time with her until she's confident that she'll beat him in next week's game."

"I know," Hazel laughed. Then she sobered. "But like I was saying, we've been busy enough with that. I hope you haven't been trying to think of some elaborate romantic gesture on top of everything else. . . ."

"What? Of course not," Frank promised, making a mental note to yell at Jason later. "But I did want to do _something_ nice. It's our first date, after all."

"_Frank—_"

"Just let me finish," he pleaded. Reluctantly, she laced her fingers through him and fell silent. "Okay. So I was thinking through all the possibilities for tonight, and then I realized . . . well, Nico brought you almost directly to Camp Jupiter, didn't he?"

"Yes?" She said it almost like a question, tilting her head in confusion.

"So you were never really fully introduced to all this modern stuff, right?"

"I guess."

Frank nodded. "That's what I thought. And that's when I figured out . . . well, I'd been trying to think of some wildly creative thing for us to do, but all of the mortal world is this wildly creative place for you now. Lots of things have changed since the forties, and I don't want you to be overwhelmed the first time we explore the mortal world—really explore it, you know, not just hurry through some old-fashioned European city on a dangerous quest." Hazel smiled and nodded. "So, before we went out and _did_ anything, I thought we should do something else first."

He pulled the picnic basket between them and opened it. Hazel looked inside, raised an eyebrow, and glanced up at him with a question written plainly on her face.

"I told you this wasn't really a picnic," he reminded her. "All these magazines are what I borrowed from the Aphrodite cabin." He hesitated. What if she thought this was presumptuous and stupid? "I thought we could sort through each one, and I could explain all the new technology and odd slang and weird pop culture references to you—unless I don't know them either, in which case, they're probably obscure and unimportant. I was . . . I was hoping that this might help you acclimate to this time period, since you're going to be stuck here with me for a long time." He looked at her shyly. "I hope you'll stick with me awhile, anyway."

Hazel's eyes were shining. "Of _course_ I will, Frank!" she said, beaming at him. "This is . . . Oh my gods, this is so sweet. I hear people talking about their . . . their cell phones, and computers, and iPods, and all sorts of things, and . . ." She stared down at the pattern of the blanket. "Sometimes I just feel so lost," she said softly. "I wonder how I'm going to catch up to a world that moves so fast."

"Hey. Hey, you don't ever have to feel like that." Frank caught her chin and tilted it up towards him. "I'll catch you up, Hazel Levesque. Don't you dare be nervous about that. And in the meantime, I'll answer every single one of your questions. And I'll make sure you don't feel lost." He smiled at her. "Besides, Haze, you ride a horse that can gallop at six hundred miles an hour. You, of all people, don't have to worry that the world will move too fast for you."

Hazel smiled, leaned up, and brushed her lips against his. "Thank you, Frank," she whispered. "This is going to be an amazing date."

"What? No." Frank shook his head. "It's our first date, and you think we're just going to stare at magazines the whole time? No way. That's why we're starting out so early. Once you feel prepared enough, we're going to take a cab into the city and experience the modern world at its best—New York City." He flushed. "And while we're there, I thought you could experience a . . . a stereotypical modern date as well. So, dinner and a movie." He winced. "Of course, if that's all right with you?"

"_All right with me_?" Hazel repeated, her eyes lighting up. "Gods, Frank, that would be _amazing! _I haven't seen a movie in . . . well, in seventy years. Piper told me that they've improved a lot since the forties, but I thought they were incredible _then_. I can't even imagine what they'll be like now."

Frank kissed her again. "_You_ are the incredible one," he promised her with another silly grin. "But if you haven't seen even one movie since the forties, I guess we'd better start small. We'll go to a regular theater, not an IMAX one."

Hazel frowned at him quizzically. "I, Max? Is that the name of a new movie?"

"No, not exactly." Frank laughed and pulled her closer, smiling and flushing as Hazel pulled out the first magazine, looked it over, and asked him what the headline "Find Your Perf BF!" meant.

Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't come up with a creative plan after all. If Hazel was going to be this blown away by the most cliché date of the twenty-first century . . . introducing 3-D glasses was probably a bad idea.


End file.
